In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
If Nuclear Iran Is So Scary, What About Israel?
Getty Images / Lior Zaltzman illustration As the web indulges in polemics on Iran’s Preliminary Nuclear Deal, I’m seeing a lot of tweets and statuses asking why Israel succeeded in developing its nuclear capabilities without making the rest of the world nervous enough to prompt a forced inspection of its nuclear installations or threaten it…
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Opinion 4 Questions on Iran for Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu’s round-robin tour of America’s Sunday interview shows — hitting NBC, ABC and CNN on a single morning — was a master stroke by Israel’s much-maligned public diplomacy operation. If any news consumer was still wondering on Saturday night where Israel’s elected government stands on the Iran nuclear framework agreement, that was cleared up…
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Opinion How Bibi and Bush Made a Mess of the Middle East
By now it’s become a Washington cliché: Barack Obama stumbling cluelessly through a Middle East in flames. He’s leading from behind, surrendering to Iran, withdrawing from the world, pivoting to Asia. He tried to disengage from Middle East entanglements, but the region sucked us back in. Or did it? Here the cliché gets muddled. In…
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Opinion Jon Stewart’s Right: Easter Is Crushing Passover!
In a Daily Show clip I revisited this weekend, Jon Stewart says that “we Jews are getting our asses kicked” when it comes to holidays. We’ve already lost the Christmas v. Hanukkah competition for kids’ attention. Now Passover v. Easter comes along, and we don’t stand a chance! After all, Jon says, what would you…
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Opinion How an Eritrean Taught Me the True Meaning of Passover
Courtesy of Tekle Tekle journeyed half a year by foot across the Sinai from Eritrea to Israel. He traveled mainly at night, for fear of getting caught during the day. “It was a matter of life and death,” he told me when I asked him to recount his escape. Without a civilian judiciary or democratic…
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Opinion Be Careful What You Wish For in Indiana
America’s culture wars hit a boiling point last week over Indiana’s religious liberty bill, which was widely portrayed as giving license for “anti-gay discrimination” by allowing business to refuse serving potential patrons on account of their sexual orientation. The negative characterization of the bill has dominated the national conversation as a raft of critics —…
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Opinion After Iran Deal, Time for Bibi To ‘Reassess’ Quixotic Fight
The public debate over the emerging nuclear deal has been waged in recent weeks mostly ex parte: the critics have had the stage mostly to themselves. Out of concern for the ongoing talks and uncertainty about their end result, President Obama and administration officials have maintained a relatively low profile and have left the criticism…
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Opinion Scotch, (Beef) Ribs and Guy Talk at the Man Seder
Courtesy of Reuven Spolter // A scene from a ‘man seder’ in Oak Park, Michigan (JTA) — I’m backing my midlife crisis into a tight space near the synagogue entrance, and because this is my midlife crisis – a 2013 blue Mustang – I’m taking my time. No way anybody’s gonna scratch my crisis. As…
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Opinion Take It from a Comedian — Trevor Noah Is No Anti-Semite
Trevor Noah / Getty Images Anti-Semitism is real. The fatal shootings at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, outside the JCC in Kansas, at the Paris kosher market, outside the Copenhagen synagogue — tragic and scary. Four jokes tweeted by Trevor Noah, who will replace Jon Stewart as host of the Daily Show? Not so much….
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Opinion The Elusive Search for the Ideal Seder
Like many American Jews, I attend a Seder each year. And like many American Jews, I often end the evening both in awe of the tradition and with a few ideas on how I could make the next Seder a little bit better. Less salt in the soup. How can I get everyone to sing?…
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Opinion The #BlackLivesMatter Haggadah
Sarah Quinter The Haggadah insists on being relentlessly current, asking that each year we read ourselves and our struggles into the ancient saga of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. So it’s not altogether surprising that a few young Jewish writers, primarily Jews of color, have compiled a #BlackLivesMatter Haggadah Supplement for the organization Jews for…
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